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Sunday, January 2, 2011

Re-creating Revolutionary Communities (PART ONE) by Cindy Sheehan

In 2009, after the inauguration of Barack Obama, I was feeling out of step with the ½ of the country that I would usually be in step with: those Hope-notized by his campaign-ad/sound-bite rhetoric.
I spent a lot of time pondering the why of this Hope-nosis and how badly our country was still doing economically and I was dismayed (but not surprised) by the increasing violence of Obama’s foreign and domestic policies.

Now, two years later, we are a country in multiple crises because the very foundation of capitalist-imperialism is crumbling no matter how hard the capitalists try and keep it together using all the tools at their disposal: the US military, the corporate media, the fear of “terrorism,” wedge issues such as LGBTQ and immigrant rights, the farce of elections, etc.

In 2009, I wrote a book called: Myth America: 20 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution. In this book, I identified and dispelled 20 myths that I think keep us attached to the class that is robbing us, killing us, and otherwise oppressing us. More importantly, I laid out a case for creating these Revolutionary communities.

Another phenomena I have observed that is holding our class (the Robbed one) from seeing peace, justice and economic equality is the new-ish one of online social networking, like Facebook. Now, I see Facebook as a blessing and a curse. Obviously, Facebook gives us all the opportunity to reach people that would otherwise not be reached and it is a good tool for passing along information, etc.

The downside of Facebook is, of course, our personal information is collated in one place and the Empire can track our whereabouts more conveniently. I also see a sociological problem, too—one where online activism and interaction is rapidly replacing in person actions and personal contact.

While I enjoy the debates on Facebook and the information I access, I have struggled with having a presence on Facebook. I have come to the conclusion that we need to take Facebook’s biggest limitation and make it a positive tool in our box to make revolutionary change. We are calling for people on Facebook to gather together with their neighbors and other people near to them on a regular basis to begin to form Revolutionary Communities.

The “revolution” I called for in Myth America, was one based on the simple fact that the Robber Class will stop at nothing to have EVERYTHING, and we don’t have the weapons to defeat them, even if we had the inclination to be violent like them.

What we do have is each other and the power of community. Every step is very achievable and every step brings us closer to a healthy future.

• We can create our own local banking/currency system. Community banks, credit unions and local scrip are preferable to being debt slaves to the banksters.

• We can create our own governments, filled with caring people from our own communities that really reflect and resonate with the issues that are important to us. Washington DC is so far from most people and so far removed from our realities down here that most of us feel that we are literally being taxed to death and get tons of crap from the feds with very little positive return.

• We can create communities that care and nurture every aspect of every human being, but especially our children. Our children need to know that they are so loved and so important to all of us that joining the military of the Robber Class is not an option and we will make sure they are educated, or learn a trade that not only fulfills their spirits, but contributes positively to our community—and other people’s children mean as much to us as ours and we should never allow our children to be killers of other children for the Robber Class.

* We can create our own healthy food growing and trading co-ops; we can create energy co-ops, we can trade goods and services; we can trade with locally owned merchants; we can create healthy and sustainable ecologies as well as economies; and we have the power to do all this and much more if we are willing to organize locally along with keeping our eyes on the bigger fish we still have to fry.
The possibilities are limitless and exciting!

So, we are using the strength of Facebook to exploit its weakness and cluster humans together in their own local communities—to be creative and specific and to also plug into what your community may already be doing.

If you would like more information on Re-Creating Revolutionary Communities, please email us at:
unitedrevs@gmail.com

Make sure to include your name and city.

I haven’t felt this optimistic about our chances for organizing in a meaningful and constructive way in years and I am excited to put my energy and resources behind this project.

2011 will finally be OUR year, but only the genesis of something bigger and better.

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Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox is an independent online radio show and blog that strives to be completely free from establishment political ideology and focus on a message of peace, justice, environmental sustainability and economic equality. To this end, we provide educational and inspirational programs on topics related to these issues and we organize/promote actions working towards peace, justice, and environmental sustainability.